Straight-bar knitting machines



J1me 1958 E. E. G. PYNEGAR ETAL 3,386,269

STRAIGHT-BAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 8, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 lnvenlarJ 1 7115 I've/4rd fimce f zzegar Alb rad Emmi l/b w 5&6,

June 4, 1963 E. E; G. PYNEGAR ETAL 3,386,269

STRAIGHT-BAR KNITTING MACHINES 7 Filed Sept. 8, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I nvenlorJ' .E'rw lierarzi'mce fyzeyar Al/rzdlmarf jfawz'li- B 4%, him 2%,

June 4, 1 968 E. 5@ PYNEGAR ETAL. 3,386,269

STRAIGHT'BAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 8, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet :3

94% Alfred Ignazj/owz 9 4 Vw llorneyj June 4, 1968 E. E. PYNEGAR ETAL 3, 6

STRAIGHT-BAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 8, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

I I lnvenlorJ' M, 42%, MM

United States Patent 3,386,269 STRAIGHT-BAR KNITTING MACHINES Eric E. G. Pynegar, 207 Smalley Hill, Heanor, England, and Alfred E. Howitt, 140 Heanor Road, Smalley, England Filed Sept. 8, 1965, Ser. No. 485,778 12 Claims. (Cl. 66-88) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE There is disclosed straight-bar knitting machine structure including a set of frame needles of which certain needles are movable from an operative position into an inoperative position and returnable to said operative position, and a set of machine knitting elements which can be moved into position over the movable frame needles when the latter are in an inoperative position and cooperate with the remaining frame needles to produce rib work, the machine knitting elements comprising two independently operated parts which are movable relatively to each other and to the frame needles, said two parts being movable relatively to each other to form knitted loops in yarn taken from between the frame needles to produce rib fabric or to transfer loops produced by the machine knitting elements to the movable frame needles when said movable frame needles are returned from an inoperative to an operative position for the production of plain knitted Work on the frame needles, and said machine knitting elements being withdrawable to an inoperative position during the production of said plain knitted work.

This invention relates to improvements in straightbar knitting machines, particularly machines for producing outer garments. Knitted outer garments are usually made with a rib knitted welt at the lower edge of the garment which is of plain knitting apart from the rib welt, and in the production of the different parts of the garment, the rib knitted welt is usually knitted on a rib knitting machine and then transferred to the needles of another knitting machine for the production of the plain knit remainder of that portion of the garment of which the rib welt forms a part. The rib welt is transferred from the needles of the machine on which it is produced to a transfer bar and subsequently from the transfer bar to the needles of another machine for the production of the remainder of the portion of a garment of which the welt forms a part. In order to reduce manual operations the transfer bars with welts thereon are placed at a loading point on a conveyor which carries a transfer bar into position over each needle bar in the machine and means are provided which automatically removes the transfer bars from the conveyor, transfers the rib welts from the transfer bars to the needles and returns the transfer bars to the conveyor for return to the loading point. -It will be seen that the continuous production of parts of garments is dependent on the continuous supply of loaded transfer bars for placing on the conveyor after the empty transfer bars have been removed therefrom. The object of the present invention is to provide a machine on which the rib welt for part of a garment and the remainder of that part of the garment in plain knitting can be produced so that the need for separately produced rib welts is obviated.

According to this invention a straight-bar knitting machine is provided with a set of frame needles of which certain needles are movable to an inoperative position and a set of machine knitting elements which can be moved into position over the movable frame needles when the latter are in an inoperative position and cooperate with the remaining frame needles to produce rib work, the machine knitting elements comprising two independently operated parts which are movable relatively to each other and to the frame needles and the two parts are moved relatively to each other to form knitted loops in yarn taken from between the frame needles to produce rib fabric or transfer loops produced by the machine knitting elements to the movable frame needles when these are returned from an inoperative to an operative position for the production of plain knitted work on the frame needles, during the production of which the machine knitting elements are withdrawn to an inoperative position.

A further feature of the invention is that the machine knitting elements carry out the necessary loop forming motions without the need for a presser and corresponding motion so that when producing rib fabric the draw for the next course can be carried out on the frame needles whilst the machine knitting elements are completing their knitting motions so that the machine can be run faster and a greater rate of production consequently obtained.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional side elevation showing the frame needle bar and the machine knitting element bars with the selected frame needles in their inoperative position,

FIG. 2 is a front elevation, and

FIG. 3 is a plan showing the disposition of the frame needles and machine knitting elements for the production of 1 and 1 rib fabric,

FIG. 4 is a side elevation showing one method of providing the motion for the bars which carry the machine knitting elements,

FIG. 5 is an end elevation,

FIG. 6 is a rear elevation, and

FIG. 7 is a plan showing an alternative method of providing the motion for the bars which carry the machine knitting elements,

FIG. 8 is a sectional side elevation of a frame needle bar showing an alternative method of carrying the frame needles which are moved to an inoperative position whilst rib knitted work is being produced.

FIGS. 9 to 14 show the motions of the frame needles and machine knitting elements during the production of rib fabric, and

FIGS. 15 to 18 show the motions of the frame needles and machine knitting elements during the transfer of loops from the knitting elements to the frame needles, which had been in an inoperative position, for the production of plain fabric.

Like numerals indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

In carrying out this invention the machine is provided with a set of frame needles for the production of plain knit work. For the production of 1 and 1 rib fabric, alternate frame needles 1 are carried by a main needle bar 2 in the normal manner and the remaining needles 3 are carried by an auxiliary needle bar 4 which is movable relatively to the main needle bar 2 so that alternate needles 3 can be moved to an inoperative position as shown in full lines in FIG. 1. The needles 3 carried by the auxiliary needle bar 4 are suitably bent so that their upper ends are in alignment with the remaining needles 1 when moved into the operative position shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 1 for producing plain knit Work. The auxiliary needle bar 4 is held in its operative position and also in its inoperative position by any approved means (not shown), and also any approved means well known in the art (not shown) may be employed to hold the auxiliary needle bar 4 rigid with the main needle bar 2 when the auxiliary needle bar 4 is in its operative position. The auxiliary needle bar may be provided with an extension at each end and these extensions are located in arcuate slots in plates secured to the main needle bar to connect the two needle bars together and provide for the movement of the auxiliary needle bar relatively to the main needle bar. When the needles 3 are in their operative position the two needle bars are operated together in the normal manner to produce plain knit fabric.

In the preferred arrangement the auxiliary needle bar 4 is secured at each end to arms 5 which are pivoted at 6 to the main needle bar 2 and the bar 4 can be moved from the position shown in full lines in FIG. 1 in which position the needles 3 are in an inoperative position, whilst rib fabric is being produced and are moved into line with the needles 1 for the production of plain knit fabric. In an alternative construction shown in FIG. 8 the auxiliary needle bar 46 is rotatably mounted in bearing means 47 in the main needle bar 45 so that by turning the needle bar 46 the needles 3 can be moved to an inoperative position indicated in broken lines when rib fabric is being produced. It is to be understood that the mentioned movement of the arms 5 or the auxiliary needle bar 46 may be imparted by any approved means well known in the art (not shown) to bring about the referred to operative or inoperative positions of the needles 3.

In order to produce a rib welt a set of machine or rib knitting elements (hereinafter referred to as machine elements) is provided. The machine elements are carried by two bars 3, 9 which are withdrawn to move the machine elements into an inoperative position during the production of plain knit work. To produce a rib welt at the start of a work piece the auxiliary needle bar 4 is moved relatively to the main needle bar 2 to move the frame needles 3 carried by the auxiliary needle bar 4 into an inoperative position as shown in FIG. 1. The machine element bars 8, 9 are then moved into their operative position for the machine elements 10 to co-operate with the frame needles 1 carried by the main needle bar 2 to produce rib knitted work. When in their operative positions the machine elements 10 are located over the spaces vacated by the frame needles 3 which are moved away from the needles 1 and downwards when the auxiliary needle bar 4 is moved to the position in which it is shown in FIG. 1. The frame needles 1 and machine element 10 co-operate to produce rib knitted work and when sufiicient courses have been knitted to form the welt the loops on the machine elements 10 are transferred to the frame needles 3 carried by the auxiliary needle bar 4 after they have been returned to their operative positions and the machine elements 10 are then moved to an inoperative position so that knitting can be continued on all the frame needles and plain knit work produced.

The frame needles I knit in the normal manner but the machine elements 10 are specially constructed so that they can carry out the necessary knitting motions without the need for a presser which is required for bearded needles or for a latch for casting off the loops and are also able to transfer the loops held thereby to the frame needles 3 when sufiicient rib work has been produced. For this purpose the machine elements 10 each comprise a hook-shaped member 11 and a slide 12. The members 11 and slides 12 are secured in separate bars 8 and 9 which are operated independently for the slides 12 to co-operate with the members 11 to knit yarn taken by the members 11 or for transferring loops from the members 10 to the frame needles 3 at the appropriate time. The motions of the bar 8, 9 may be obtained as shown in FIG. 4 in which the bar 8 is connected to the upper end of a lever 13 pivoted on a shaft 14 and operated by a cam 15 on the mainshaft 16 engaging a truck 17 on the lever 13. The bar 9 is similarly operated by a lever 18 pivoted on the shaft 14 and having a truck 19 engaging with a cam on the mainshaft 16.

In an alternative method the bars 8, 9 are operated as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7. Mounted on the bar 8 are rollers 20, 21 which are located respectively in slots 22, 23 in plates 24, 25 secured on a bar 26. It will be seen that by moving the bar 26 longitudinally in one direction or the other the bar 8 will be moved laterally in one direction or the other. To move the bar 26 it is provided at each end with rollers 27, 28 which are counter cammed by cams 29, 30. Three cams are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and they operate in pairs, the rollers 27, 28 being movable to operate from a selected pair which are arranged to provide the necessary motions to the bar 8 for knitting, transferring loops or for producing a slack course. The bar 9 is operated in a similar manner having rollers 31, 32 engaging respectively in inclined slots 33, 34 in plates 35, 36 on a bar 37. The bar 37 is moved longitudinally by rollers 38, 39 at the ends engaging cams 40, 41. It is to be understood that the desired bar shifting movement can be imparted to the cam sets 29, 30 and 4t), 41 by any approved and well known means (not shown).

To produce rib knitted work the frame needles 3 are moved to an inoperative position and the machine elements 10 moved over the spaces vacated by the frame needles 3. Yarn for a course is sunk on the frame needles 1 and these are lowered to draw the yarn over the hooked members 11 as shown in FIG. 9, the previous loop in the hook having been transferred to the nose of the slide 12. The lowering of the frame needles 1 knocks over the previous loop thereon as the frame needles co-operate with a presser to knit in the normal manner. The member 11 is then withdrawn to draw the yarn through the loop on the nose of the slide 11 as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. The slide 12 is then withdrawn to release the loop on the nose of the slide 12 as shown in FIG. 12 to complete the knitting of the course. The member 11 is then advanced to move the loop held thereby onto the shank of the member as shown in FIG. 13 and the slide advanced for its nose to penetrate the loop as shown in FIG. 14. The member 11 and slide 12 are then adjusted to their respective positions shown in FIG. 9 ready for drawing the next course, the frame needles 1 being raised for this purpose. When sufiicient courses of rib work have been knitted the member 11 is withdrawn from the position shown in FIG. 14 and the slide 12 advanced so that the loop on the slide is moved onto the high part of the nose as shown in FIG. 15. The frame needles 3 are returned to their operative position as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16 and the frame needles then raised so that the frame needles 3 penetrate the loops held by the noses of the slides 12 as shown in FIG. 17 and the slides 12 are then withdrawn to an inoperative position leaving the loops on the frame needles 3 as shown in FIG. 18 so that now all the frame needles have loops thereon and plain knitting can now be produced on all the frame needles.

As previously stated the machine elements are comprised of two parts, one part being hook shaped similar to a latch needle, without a latch, and the other part being a slide which performs the functions of a latch but also enables loops to be transferred to the frame needles from the machine elements. In one arrangement the slide is formed with a shank or stem which slides in a groove in the stem of the hook-shaped member and the outer end of the slide is adapted to cover the neb of the book when moved into position for this purpose so that a loop previously moved onto the slide can be cast off to complete the knitting of a course or by withdrawing the hookshaped member and leaving the loop on the slide the loop can be transferred to a frame needle. In order, however, to carry out this operation the slide has to be moved into a substantially vertical position. In order to obviate this when a transfer has to be carried out the arrangement shown. in the drawings is preferably used. As shown in the drawings the machine elements comprise a hookshaped member 11 and a slide 12. The nose of the slide is formed by two parallel parts which are located one on each side of the hooked-shaped member. The inner end of the nose is formed with a raised step onto which the loop is moved, as shown in FIG. 15, to hold the loop open during a transfer operation to a frame needle. The advantage of this form of slide is that it does not need to be tilted to effect the transfer.

The nose of the slide 12 may be attached to a stem which slides in a groove in the stem of the member 11 or as shown in the drawings the stem of the slide is an inverted U shape in cross section and the member 11 is located between the sides of the stem.

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional elevation of an alternative form of needle bar for the frame needles. The needles 1 are mounted on a bar 45 and the needles 3 are mounted in a bar 46 which is rotatably mounted in a housing 47 in the bar 45 so that 'by turning the bar 46 in its housing the needles 3 can be moved to an inoperative position, indicated by broken lines in FIG. 8, for the production of rib work.

In the foregoing description and drawings the machine is described and shown for the production of one and one rib fabric for the welts but it will be understood that by a suitable arrangement of the frame needles and machine elements two and two or three and three rib fabric or any other combination of rib stitch fabric could be produced. When making two and two or three and three rib fabric provision must be made to shog the machine element bar sideways relatively to the frame needles in order to tie in the top or first course of the rib work.

With a machine constructed and operating as described the rib welts are knitted on the machine instead of on a separate rib machine and thus obviating the necessity for welt transfer bars, a conveyor for positioning the welt transfer bars in the machine and for mechanism for removing the transfer bars from the conveyor, transferring the welts to the needles of the machine and returning the transfer bars to the conveyor. It also obviates the need for labour to run preformed welts onto transfer bars, load the transfer bars onto a conveyor and remove empty transfer bars from the conveyor. It also has the advantage that the same yarn is used for the rib welt and remainder of the work. Another advantage of the invention is that the machine elements carry out the knitting motions of the rib loops and as the draw sinks the yarn on the frame needles, the draw can take place whilst the machine elements are knitting their loops and consequently the rate of production can be increased.

What we claim is:

1. In a straight-bar knitting machine structure, a set of frame needles of which certain needles are movable from an operative position into an inoperative position and returnable to said operative position, and a set of machine knitting elements which can be moved into position over the movable frame needles when the latter are in an inoperative position and co-operate with the remaining frame needles to produce rib work, the machine knitting elements comprising two independently operated parts which are movable relatively to each other and to the frame needles, said two parts being movable relatively to each other to form knitted loops in yarn taken from between the frame needles to produce rib fabric or to transfer loops produced by the machine knitting elements to the movable frame needles when said movable frame needles are returned from an inoperative to an operative position for the production of plain knitted work on the frame needles, and said machine knitting elements being withdrawable to an inoperative position during the production of said plain knitted work.

2. A straight-bar knitting machine according to claim 1 in which the machine knitting elements comprise a hook shaped member and a member slidable relatively to the hook-shaped member and adapted to co-operate with the hook-shaped member to knit yarn taken by the hookshaped member or to take loops held by the hook-shaped member from the latter and transfer them from the sliding member to a frame needle, the hook shaped member and sliding member having separate means of operation.

3. A straight-bar knitting machine according to claim 2 in which the sliding member is located in a groove in the shank of the hook-shaped member and is movable to close the throat of the hook or be withdrawn into the shank so that a loop held by the hook can be moved onto the sliding member by the appropriate movement of the hoop-shaped member and the sliding member.

4. A straight-bar knitting machine according to claim 2 in which the hook-shaped member is located in the sliding member which is an inverted U shape in cross section and the nose of the sliding member is shaped so as to take loops from the hook-shaped member and either subsequently cast them off after the hook-shaped member has drawn another loop of yarn or transfer the loop to a frame needle.

5. A straight-bar knitting machine according to claim 4 in which the hook-shaped member is formed with a lift on the stem adjacent the hook, adapted to engage a loop held by the hook and raise it above the nose of the sliding member.

6. A straight-bar knitting machine according to claim 4 in which the hook-shaped members and sliding members are secured to bars which are independently operated to provide the relative movement required between the hook-shaped members and sliding members for producing rib knitted work or for transferring loops from the machine knitting elements to the frame needles.

7. A straight-bar knitting machine according to claim 6 in which the bars are operated by levers actuated by cams on the main shaft of the machine.

8. A straight-bar knitting machine according to claim 6 in which the bars are operated by rollers thereon engaging in cam slots movable relatively to the bars.

9. A straight-bar knitting machine accordance to claim 8 in which the cam slots are in plates secured to bars which are moved longitudinally by cams and counter earns.

10. A straight-bar knitting machine according to claim 1 in which the needle bar for the frame needles comprises a main needle bar and an auxiliary needle bar which is movable relatively to the main needle bar to move the needles.

11. A straight-bar knitting machine according to claim 10 in which the auxiliary needle bar is carried by arms pivoted to the main needle bar.

12. A straight-bar knitting machine according to claim 10 in which the auxiliary needle bar is mounted in a housing in the main needle bar and is angularly adjustable about its longitudinal axis in the housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,483,009 2/1924 Page 66-95 XR 1,869,147 7/1932 Hill 66-95 XR 2,957,324 10/1960 Willner 66-88 XR 3,058,325 10/ 1962 Brown et a1 66-88 3,066,511 12/ 1962 Brooke 66-88 3,111,828 11/1963 Brooke 66-88 3,130,565 4/1964 Werner 66-88 FOREIGN PATENTS 38,747 7/ 1931 France. 1,085,203 1/ 1955 France.

934,883 8/1963 Great Britain. 970,215 9/ 1964 Great Britain.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

RONALD FELDBAUM, Examz'rr'er. 

